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LIBRARYBrigham Young University

GIFT OF

R. D.

Lund

OF THE

There are but four hundred and fifty completethe worldy of

sets

maae for

which

this is copy

No..

z

COPYRIGHTT. H.

SMART

1905

i

L-,

VOLSUNGA SAGA/

TRANSLATED FROM THE ICELANDIC

EIRIKR MAGNUSSON ^

WILLIAM MORRIS

WITH INTRODUCTION BY

WATER

H.

HALLIDAY SPARLING,FAIRIES OF THE RHINEilie

(After

^^^ffiJEIMiiJfi'^iy

I^^f^V

^ which tells of nymphs of the Rhine, commonly entertained which Hein^^ias so"The

a

superstition once

exquisitely gilded in

Lorelei." But long anterior to IjiV-pA^^A^jicies, even the ancient Teutons and ^STfeKMeB/ p4

^^^'"

drajvon, he understood the voice

of rhe'^birtreach^'rr^xi,..^

-vl

h^ heard

how

they spake of Mimir's

'-- ^he dragon was

Mimir's

brother.

;'

hlood of the dragon, and wherever ^EIMp^'Mfi ^ihP9kt horn. So*^ff-^;'ti^d^4)Midf Grimhild, though his wife Erka had prayed him not to wed a wife of the Niblungs, lest it be to theruin ofAttila

him and his folk. Now Grimhild, knowing was a mighty king, was willing to wed him, forprayed him to send for her

she thought she might so avenge the death of Sigfrid.

And

after seven years she

brothers to his land, and told

him of the great treasure

which Sigfrid had w^on from the dragon (this is the first notice we have of the Hoard in the Thidrek-saga), and Attila, who was greedy of gold, was willing tO' ask them. But Hagen spake to Gunther, and warned him that Grimhild had evil thoughts in her heart; and Queen Oda dreamt ill dreams, and would have kept her sons back from the journey, but Gunther was bent on going, so the Niblungs set forth with one thousand men. When they came to where the Rhine and the Danube meet, they had

no boat to carry them over, and must camp for the night on the bank, and Hagen kept watch. He came on an inland water where certain water-maidens(meer-fraiien)

were bathing, and he took asked them where he could

their clothes as pledges,find a ship,

and

and

if

their jour-

173

THE NIBELUNGEN RINGney should be of good fortune; and the water-maidens told him of a ferryman near at hand, but said their jour-

ney should bring them

ill-luck,

and that none of the Nib-

lungs should cross the stream again.

Then Hagen slew

and found the ferryman, and gave him a gold ring to ferry them over; but when they had crossed the stream, he smote off the ferryman's head, lest he tell Attila they had crossed in battle array. Then they came to the land of the Margraf Rodingeir and he and his wife Gutelinda received them with all honour, and betrothed their daughter to Gislher, and gave richfor their evil tidings,gifts to all the heroes,

them

and Rodingeir rode with them to Attila's court. Attila received the Niblungs well, and sent Thidrek von Bern (who is dwelling as an exile at Attila's court) to meet them; but Grimhild only asked if her brothers had brought the Niblung gold, and Hagen

made her

when they asked Grimhild why she wept, she said it was for the death of Sigfrid. The next morning Thidrek warned Hagen that Grimhild meant evil towards them and when she- prayedscornful answer; and;

the Niblungs to lay aside their

armourto

for the feast, they

would

not.

Then Grimhild prayed Thidrekfor her.sent her

avenge her of herfeast, the

wrongs, and he would not, but Irung promised to fight

Whenyoung;

they were seated at theson,

queen

and bade him smite Hagen in the face, and Hagen struck off the child's head, and so the fight began and the Niblungs fought their way into the garden, but could not pass the gates, for Grimhild hadbade them spread raw ox-hides without, so that the heroes174

THE THIDREK-SAGAand fell when they would pass through. All that day the Niblungs held the garden; but when night fell, Hagen bade them break down the wall, and they made their way into the streets, but their foes were so many Then the Niblungs called on that they beat them back.slipped

was his host, he might not fight against him, but neither would he fight against the Niblungs. Then the Huns took Gunther captive and bound him, and cast him intO' the snaketower, and he was stung tO' death but Hagen fought his way to a hall in the palace, and Gislher and Gernoz followed him. Then Grimhild bade them set the hall on fireThidrek von BerntO'

aid them; but since Attila

;

over Hagen's head; but as they might not slay him., ordrive

him

out,

Irung came against Hagen and woundedcleftfell

him, but

Hagen

Irung

in twain,

and he

fell,

and the

road where he

is

called Irung's

Way

to this day.

(There seems

to be a confusion

with another Iring, after

whom, somewereslain,

traditions say, the

Irings-strasse. )

Milky Way was called Markgraf Rodingeir saw that his friends

and he was very wrathful, and came against the Niblungs, and they fought, and Gislher slew him. When Thidrek von Bern knew that Rodingeir was slain, he must needs avenge him and he and Master Hildebrand came against the Niblungs, and Master Hildebrand felled Gernoz and Gislher, but Thidrek and Hagen fought;

Whereupon Thidrek grew SO' wrathful, that his breath was as flames of fire, and Hagen's armour grew hot upon him, till he could no longer bear it, and he yielded himself to Thidlong time before either would yield.rek.

(Thidrek's fiery breath175

is

frequently referred to

)

THE NIBELUNGEN RINGin the sagas;it

is

a proof of his supposed demoniaca fiery brand and thrustif

origin.

Then Grimhild tookdead, and Gernozthis,

it

into

the mouths of Gernoz and Gislher, to see

they were

wasdevil,

dead, but Gislher

was not before

but the burning brand slew him.

Now

Thidrekso sorely

deemed she was a

and notlive;

fit

to

live,

and smote her

asunder with his sword.

And Hagen wasbut

wounded he might not

when he was dying he

gave the keys of the cave where he had hidden the Niblung Treasure to the maiden who' had tended him, and bade her give them to the son she should bear him. And she bare a son, and he grew up at Attila's court, and in

due time she gave him the keys; and the lad spake to Attila, and promised him great riches if he would come with him to the cave. Then the king did so, and Hagen's son shut the door upon him, and laid rocks before it, andso Attila starved to death, and none has found the Treas-

ure to this day.

It will

be sufficient here to note the more importantthese are

divergencies between this version and that of the Vol-

sunga-sagaage, birth,hild,

;

:

The account ofhis first

Siegfried's parent-

and upbringing;

meeting with Bryn-

and the circumstances under which he takes Gunther's place; his marriage with Grimhild, and his death.

The

birth of

Hagen

;

the part played by Grimhild in the;

destruction of the Niblungs

and the complete change of

"motif'

in the latter part

of the story

it is

as murderers

of Siegfried, not as possessors of the treasure, that they176

THE THIDREK-SAGAare slain; the appearance of Thidrek von Bern;

the hiding

of the Niblung Hoard in a mountain cave instead of in the

Rhine; and the circumstances attending the birth of Hagen's son and the death of Attila, though the "motif"for the latteris

identical with that of the Volsunga-saga.

The most remarkableis

feature in the Nibelungen-lied

moulded the latter part of the story, the old German conception of "Treue" as Hagen slays Siegfried purely from faith and loyalty.the ethical "motif" which hasloyalty to Brunhild, his liege lady; he goes to Etzel'scourt,

knowing he is going to his death, through loyalty to Gunther, and defends his lord and his lord's secret to

the last

moment

of his

life.

Guntherwill not

is,

on

his

part,

equally loyal to

Hagen; he

purchase his;

own

safety by the sacrifice of his faithful vassalacter of the

and the chardie at the

Margrave Rudiger, who prefers to

hands of the Nibelungs rather than break his vow toKriemhild, or live knowing he has betrayed his friends,

has often been held by

critics to

embody

the most perfect

type of mediaeval chivalry.

Kriemhild, too, repulsive asis

she becomes towards the end of the poem,

actuatedIt is

throughout by her loyalty to Siegfried's memory.this ethical significanceity

which forms the

distinctive qualin spite of the

of the Nibelungen-lied, and entitles

it,

revolting details of carnage and slaughter, to be consid-

ered as the finest literary presentation of the legend.

^77

Chapter

II.

THE RHINE-GOLD.ARGUMENT.The Rhine-gold, hidden 'neath the waters of the river, is watched by the three Rhine maidens Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde. Wrought into a ring, the gold would bring universal dominion to its possessor; but none, save one who despises and forswears love, can weld it. The magic gold is stolen by force from the Rhine maidens by the Nibelung, Alberich, who has wooed them in vain, and they cry for help to Wotan. But the gods themselves are in danger. Desirous of building a palace, they have called their foes, the giants, to their aid; as reward for their labour, Wotan, trusting to Loge's (Loke's) cunning to enable him to evade the promise, has agreed to deliver up Freia, the goddess of youth, whose loss will bring old age and decay upon the gods. The palace built, Fafner and Fasolt, the giants, demand their payment; and Loge, called upon for his promised aid, avows that though he has sought through Heaven and Earth, he can find naught that may be held as an equivalent for woman's worth and beauty. Then while the gods are in suspense, seeing no way out of the difficulty, he tells of the rape of the Rhine-gold, and how the magic ring has been wrought by Alberich, who hopes by its means to The giants, subdue all in Earth and Heaven to his will. between whom and the Nibelungs a feud has long existed, are greatly disturbed at the tidings, and finally announce that if the gods will win for them the Hoard of the Nibelungs, they will accept that as ransom for Freia, whom they hold as a pledge in the meantime. Wotan and Loge therefore descend to Nibelheim, where, by the aid of the magic ring, Alberich is accumulating a vast hoard of treasure, and has further employed the skill of Mime to make for him a helmet, by the magic power of which he can By Loge's change his shape, or become invisible at will. cunning the gods succeed in binding the Nibelung, and refuse to loose him till he has paid over as ransom the entire Nibelung Hoard, together with helmet and ring. Deprived of this last, Alberich utters a curse upon all its future possessors; it shall

178

THE RHINE-GOLDbring death and destruction to all alike, till it return once more to his keeping. The giants, with Freia in their power, return to claim the promised ransom, and, thrusting their staves into the earth before the goddess, demand that the gold shall reach a height sufficient to conceal her from view; the helmet of magic is added to the pile; but when all the gold has been heaped together, there is still a chink through which the eye of the goddess can be seen. To fill this the giants demand the ring, which is now on Wotan's hand; he at first refuses to part with it; but at the interference of the goddess Erda, who rises from the earth to warn him against incurring the curse invoked on the possessor of the ring, he adds it to the pile, and the ransom is complete. Freia is delivered up to the gods, and the curse of the ring forthwith begins to work; Fafner claims the greater part of the Hoard for himself, and, on Fasolt's resistance, slays him. Donner and Froh call the spirits of the clouds together, and a rainbow bridge spans the valley, passing over which the gods enter Walhalla, while the wail of the Rhine maidens for their lost gold rises from the depths beneath.

Inat

this introduction to the

Trilogy

we

find ourselves

once transported to a world of mystery, a world in

which neither the bodily nor the spiritual eye can at once see clearly, and we apprehend with difficulty alike the actions

and the motives of those whO' dwell within it. Nor is this atmosphere of mystery other than fitting for the representation of a legend which finds its roots far back in the earliest period of man's conscious thought and incomplete expression and with which Wagner has thought;

well to interweave the early searchings of his race after

them in obscure mythological parables, and interpreted by him in accordance with that system of philosophic thought most in harmony with hiseternal truths, shrouded by

genius.

The

object of the Rhine -Gold

is

to set forth, in accord-

ance with the indications of the legend, such an accountof the origin of the Treasure, and of the Ring which179is its

THE NIBELUNGEN RINGsymbol, as shall explainligible

power and render intelthe curse which pursues all who, even innocently,its fatalit.

possess

Now,thereitself.is

in all this mysterious story

which has woven

into itself so

many varying

threads of history and legend,

no more mysterious element than the Treasure Whence did it come ? Who were its original pos-

sessors?

Why

does

it

exercise so baneful an influence?

Of

all

the versions, the Volsunga-saga alone professes to

answer these questions, and even here the evidence is incomplete, and we are perforce led to the conclusion that before the legend had been transcribed, probably before it reached its settled form, the origin of the Nibelungen

Hoard had been forgotten. The ethical idea of whichis

the legend

is

an expression

undoubtedly that of the

evil influence

of gold, which,

German mythology, was operative alike on gods and men. The golden age, the time of the innocence of the gods, was before they knew gold; beforeaccording to old,

the creation of the dwarf- race,

who wrought

the precious

metal out of the earth, and thus brought the lust of gold

and the passions of greed and avarice into the world. This idea is deeply imbedded in German mythology, and has been expressed under varying forms, of which undoubtedly the myth of the Nibelungen Hoard was originally one; therefore when Wagner, in his drama, bringsinto sharp relief the fatal effects of the desire of gold,

and yet triumphantly proclaims it less powerful and less enduring than love, he is but expressing a thought which, from the first, was a vital and integral part of the legend.i8o

THE RHINE-GOLDWhence, then, came this gold, here represented as reft from, and returning to, the bosom of the waters? Theversions of the legend give varying accounts;

in the

Voltaken

sunga-saga, as

we

see, it

was

originally the property ofis

the dwarf, Andvari, a dweller in the waters, and

from him by Loke, who hands it over to Hreidmar, and Sigurd wins it from Hreidmar's sons; the final destination of the Hoard, too, is the Rhine thus it comes from,

and returnsthe

to,

the water.is

In the Thidrek-saga, on theoriginal

other hand, there

no account of theRegin,

homeit

of

Hoard; we learn casually;

that Sigfridis

won

from

the dragon

but

howit

who

here the dragon,

came

into possession of

we

are not told.

Of

the final fate of;

the Treasure

we have an

explicit accountit

it is

hidden in

a mountain-cave, where

remains concealed for everto the Nibelun-

from the sight of men.gen-lied,

When we comeTreasureis

we

find that the

originally brought

and that Siegfried wins it from two brothers, Schilbung and Nibelung, though we are not told how they became possessed of it; its final destination isforthcave,

from a

again the Rhine.

A

popular versio'U of the Siegfried story, the Sieg-

frieds-lied, gives a different but

analogous account of the

Kriemhild has been carried off by a dragon and imprisoned in a cave on the Drachenfels; SiegfriedTreasure.slays,

not only the dragon, but the giant Kuperan,

whoat

guards the mountain, and rescues the princess.

Near

hand, in a cave, the dwarf Eugel and his brothers have hidden the Treasure of their father, Niblung, who died of grief when his mountain was captured by the giant.i8i

THE NIBELUNGEN RINGSiegfried iinds the Treasure, and, thinkingit

the

Hoardgold

of the dragon, carries

it

off; but aslife,

Eugel has foretoldreflects that the

that he shall have but a shortwill be of little use to him,

he

and when he comes to the

Rhine he throws it into the waters. We have here four versions of the winning and the hiding of the Treasure; in one instance we find it comes from the water, in two from the earth (being found in acave);

the

fourth,its

the Thidrek-saga, gives no explicit

account ofits

home.

The

three

first all

agree in makingas hidden in a

final

resting-place the Rhine, but the Thidrek-sagait

again differs from them, and representscave,i.

e. it

returns to the earth, and not to the water.it

Now,

in every case

is

noticeable, that

it

is

the ver-

German in development, or avowedly based upon German tradition, which knows of the cave; the distinctively Northern variant only knows of thesion, either purely

water.a whole

It is perfectly true that thisis

Northern version as

the

more archaicis,

in

form, and more sugges-

tive of the

mythic character underlying the legend; butas before said,

the original sourcefore,

German, and there-

where the versionsit

differ as decidedly as is here the

case,

is

necessary to examine more closely into theis,

story before deciding that the Northern

as a matter

of course, the nearest to the original form.

An

inquiry as to

Treasure

and herea

who were the original owners of the is necessary before we can solve the difficulty; we find that, in three out of the four versions,closely connected withit.

dwarfit

is

In the Volsungahis rightful prop^

saga

is

taken from Andvari, and182

is

;

V

RINGdiinkingasit

Siegfried finds u

the

Hoard

of the dragon.that he shallwill be ofv

Eugel has foretoldlie

r- reflects that the gold*--

comes to the

Rhine he

i

aters.N

Wehidin^'-

h'v

of the winning and the

re: in\\;ii' r

one instance

we

find

it

comes

from thecave

is

luo

frr.iii llic

earth (being found in a

^^^^^^.^^ -^^?^RSM^s.m^P^^i^Plv^licit making :;nt -i" it> hcM^A'*" ^^'''n^^ffffge^fii^^^H^^gl^e^e in 'T'HE Rhine-gold pla^$(^^n^](jqtw^pii>lrated for his that having heard that the king ventured to seek shelter h